-LRB- CNN -RRB- In the final days of the Israeli election campaign , Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disavowed the two-state solution and said there would be no Palestinian state on his watch .

He also earned universal condemnation for his panicked warning to his followers on election day that Arabs were `` voting in droves '' -- a comment that will resound to his shame and can neither be forgiven nor forgotten unless he apologizes clearly , sincerely and without reservation .

And now , facing international uproar and a stern U.S. response , Israeli officials have started backing away from these statements . The Israeli ambassador to Canada , Rafael Barak , said Wednesday on CBC TV , `` This is an election campaign and you have to take with a grain of salt what was said at the last minute when the polls say you are going to lose . ''

Netanyahu himself , in an interview on NBC , tried to qualify his words about a two-state solution , saying what he meant to say was that a Palestinian state was not viable under present conditions .

He knows that stance is totally unacceptable to Israel 's chief ally , the United States , and to the rest of the international community . And he should not be allowed to slip off the hook so easily . Indeed , far from taking this statement with a grain of salt , the world is likely to look back at his previously stated support for a two-state solution and take that with more than a grain of salt .

The fact is , rhetorical if not actual support for a two-state solution has served Netanyahu well for the past several years , and has provided him with a convenient shield against international pressure to end the almost 48-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza .

Also helping Netanyahu was the presence in his Cabinet of Israeli politicians who actually do believe in a two-state solution and worked hard to make it happen -- notably former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni , who headed up the failed 2014 negotiations with the Palestinians . Livni wanted to move forward in the talks , but found herself hemmed in and frustrated by Netanyahu 's aides -- and apparently by the prime minister himself -- at every turn .

Now , as he constructs a coalition of ultranationalists and ultra-Orthodox , those shields have been stripped away . Netanyahu must now face the world having bared his true face and exposed his true beliefs -- and the international community , led by the United States , must respond accordingly .

What should this involve ?

To begin with , Washington should not wait for others to draft a U.N. resolution condemning the settlements . It should take the initiative , in consultation with its international partners , in drafting a resolution that lays out the detailed parameters for an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict .

The resolution should of course state unequivocally that the solution rests in an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines , with equivalent land swaps to incorporate some of the major settlement blocs within Israel . It should also reiterate Israel 's right to security . And it should state clearly and unambiguously that the settlements are illegal under international law and must stop .

Words are important -- but more important are deeds . Whatever he says about the two-state solution , the next Netanyahu government is virtually certain to blast ahead with settlement-building . It is on that basis that he and his administration should be diplomatically isolated and condemned .

In his campaign statement , Netanyahu took pride in approving the construction of a huge suburb on the southern fringes of Jerusalem in order to block Palestinian construction from neighboring Bethlehem . He boasted that the building was not simply to provide housing for Jews rather than Palestinians , but that it was to make it harder for the Palestinians to establish a coherent , territorially contiguous state .

Netanyahu 's statement was a moment of truth for him , for Israel and for the world . He was admirably blunt and concise . He left no doubt what he intended . Now , the world must hold him to account .

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Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed idea of Palestinian state during campaign

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Alan Elsner : Israeli officials have started backing away from his statements